Making a List

Look, I tried to come up with some quirky, cute way to say the holidays are imminent and shopping days are numbered, but it's all been done before so I'll just cut straight to the holiday jugular: You've got two weeks and it's really hard to shop for Aunt Betty. Consult the “Alibi Picks” this week for a multitude of shopping and strolling events, but if your taste and the taste of those on your list leans on the artsy side, there are a few more events to consider. On Saturday, Dec. 8, the New Mexico Book Co-op and Footprints From the Bible are sponsoring the Holiday Book and Craft Fair at St. John's Cathedral (318 Silver SW) starting at 10 a.m. The event features more than 50 local authors, artists and craftspeople, and book signings with Dave DeWitt (Avenging Victorio), Don Bullis (New Mexico: A Biographical Dictionary) and Robert Torrez (New Mexico in 1876-1877). Of course, many of the authors will be promoting their publications and I'm sure they'll be happy to slap a signature on your copy. After checking the bibliophile(s) off your list, visit Regalos at La Tiendita Museum Store at the National Hispanic Cultural Center (1701 Fourth Street SW) also on Saturday, Dec. 8, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Artisans from around New Mexico will be offering their wares, including paintings, sculpture, santeros, literature and glass art. Beyond the shopping, Regalos features carolers, storytelling (at 10:30 and 11:30 a.m.) and refreshments.

The Imaginative Mind of Bruce Lowney at Artspace 116

By Tom Gibbons

The fine art medium of lithography is a mysterious process to some and unknown to many more. Like daguerreotypes and woodcuts—two other kinds of image replication with far-reaching influence to modern expression—the lithograph has been relegated to niche status, the stuff of dusty museum archives. Yet many artists still prefer this rigorous, technical process. Bruce Lowney is one of them, having used the lithograph press to create beautiful, compelling works for more than 30 years.

Denis Johnson’s Tree of Smoke

Review by John Freeman

Tree of Smoke

Denis Johnson has given us so many maimed and suffering souls in the past 25 years he could fill a trauma ward. Here are men and women hollowed out by domestic loss (The Name of the World), drug use (Jesus’ Son) and failed suicide attempts (Resuscitation of a Drowned Man), not to mention the end of the world (Fiskadoro). Entering his 60s, Johnson has given us his apocalypse now: a big, slow-motion epic about America’s experience in Vietnam.

The Charmstone

The Charmstone

A mysterious disappearance in remote Monument Valley, a Navajo recommitted to his culture, rumors of scandal, sullen and secretive teenagers who spend too much time in the desert, and a scheming newspaperman who knows everything but tells nothing all come together in this suspenseful tale of murder and greed.